Interfacial anodic degradation in
graphitic materials under fast
charging conditions causes severe performance loss and safety hazard
in lithium ion batteries. We present a novel method for minimizing
the growth of these aging mechanism by application of an external
magnetic field. Under magnetic field, paramagnetic lithium ions experience
a magnetohydrodynamic force, which rotates the perpendicularly diffusing
species and homogenizes the ionic transport. This phenomenon minimizes
the overpotential hotspots at the anode/separator interface, consequently
reducing SEI growth, lithium plating, and interfacial fracture. In
situ electrochemical measurements indicate an improvement in capacity
for lithium cobalt oxide/graphite pouch cell (20 mAh) charged from
1–5 C under an applied field of 1.8 kG, with a maximum capacity
gain of 22% at 5C. Post-mortem FE-SEM and EDS mapping shows that samples
charged with magnetic field have a reduced lithium deposition at 3C
and a complete suppression of interfacial fracture at 5C. At 5C, a
24% reduction in the lithium content is observed by performing XPS
on the anodic interfacial film. Finally, fast charging performance
under variable magnetic field strengths indicate a saturation behavior
in capacity at high fields (>2 kG), thereby limiting the field
and
consequent energy requirements to obtain maximum capacity gain under
extreme conditions.